At risk of over-stretching the frying-pans analogy, the flash-fry wok may be more likely to cause a disastrous kitchen fire than the slow-cook skillet, even if they both use the same amount of heat overall.

Stretching (and surely over-stretching) the family metaphor, Obama comes off not as an older sibling, a mere equal of the bad guys, but as a powerful and self-assured father -- one ready to march right down the stairs and give those bullies some whoop-ass.

In the United States, habeas corpus and due process, as guaranteed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, have taken a regressive back seat to the hastily enacted post 9/11 Patriot Act and the zealous vigilance, surveillance and over-stretching of bureaucrats.